Technology and equipment

LONG READ: In February, leading police officers were joined by law enforcement stakeholders, suppliers and academics for a one-day round table on transforming police public contact, organised by policy advice and strategic development organisation Cityforum; in this report – based on contributions made at the round table – independent policing consultant Nick Gargan, who chaired one of the event sessions, explores the key issues including addressing public expectations, the increasing shift to digital channels, and the options for improving service delivery.

FEATURE: Several European countries have experienced the devastating effects of often low-tech fatal terrorist attacks on public spaces such as shopping malls, concert halls and city squares; now a new EU-funded project involving police, public safety stakeholders and the private sector aims to develop innovative security measures using artificial intelligence (AI) and integrated technologies to make public spaces more secure, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INTERVIEW: Having taken up a role in the private sector after a lengthy and successful career in the United States Secret Service, Kim Cheatle returned to the agency as its Director last summer, with a glowing endorsement from President Joe Biden; she recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about her passion for the job, her admiration for her colleagues, and the partnerships being built by the Secret Service to tackle new and emerging crimes and threats.

OPINION: Online child sexual abuse activity has reached staggeringly high levels and increasing depravity; ahead of this month’s Policing Institute for the East Region (PIER) conference on tackling online harms, Simon Bailey, former Chief Constable of Norfolk and now PIER Chair, argues that a whole system approach to the issue – including education and regulation – is essential, as is the better use of technology by law enforcement.

FEATURE: A new approach to traffic policing is applying the evidence-based principles of the Cambridge Crime Harm Index to target serious traffic collision hot spots in Cumbria; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sgt Jack Stabler of Cumbria Constabulary about the thinking behind the new Road Harm Index, and the benefits the initiative could bring for police, partners and the public.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Digital transformation is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in policing – from data analytics and mobile workforce optimization to online citizen engagement and investigations. But when it comes to delivering on the promise of digital transformation, one technology that police departments are embracing in growing numbers is cloud-based DEMS (Digital Evidence Management System). This article explores 12 powerful ways that DEMS is transforming policing, from crime to justice.

INTERVIEW: Policing has long struggled to deliver digital transformation programmes, especially those seeking to replace major pieces of legacy IT; but with COVID-19 adding fresh impetus to the digital agenda and the national strategy set for a ‘refresh’, Ian Bell, CEO of the Police Digital Service, sees exciting opportunities on the horizon, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: A new report into the policing of the 2022 occupation of parliamentary grounds in Wellington describes a largely successful operation with a positive outcome; but Professors Alexander Gillespie and Claire Breen of the University of Waikato warn that while policing has moved on significantly since previous high-profile demonstrations, there is still room for improvement around practice, equipment, legislation, and ensuring police independence.

ANALYSIS: The Mendéz Principles build on interviewing models in England and Wales to offer a global standard for effective interviewing practices that ensure non-coercive methods and procedural safeguards; ahead of next month’s conference on the subject at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research (CCPR), Policing Lecturer James Harris and CCPR Director Dr Martin O’Neill explore the background to the principles, and the development of techniques and lessons drawn from UK cases.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Last year’s rather damning report into UK policing’s digital forensics performance highlighted crucial concerns around lengthy delays failing victims, and forces unable to get to grips with a huge and growing backlog; a digital forensic ‘blueprint’ approach offered by Telefónica Tech provides the flexibility, speed and necessary compliant storage to address those concerns, as Will Wilkinson and Ed Taylor explained to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter.

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INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Alan Edwards, a former Royal Military Police officer and detective chief inspector who now works as a civilian expert specialising in serious organised crime, about the growing pressures of investigating online crime, the potential of the ChildLight initiative, and why law enforcement in the West could and should be doing much more to tackle Africa’s barbaric people traffickers.

OPINION: With the growing prospect of the responsibility for large national IT programmes passing from the Home Office to policing, the way the service gets its technology looks set to change; Sharad Rathi, Operations Director and Public Sector lead at HCLTech, believes that how that technology is developed and delivered is at least as important as which public body is delivering it.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: There has been intense discussion about police use of facial recognition in recent years, with questions surrounding the ethics and practical implementation of Live Facial Recognition in public spaces. Ian Williams discusses how Motorola Solutions’ Pronto digital policing platform is leveraging other applications of facial recognition technology that address the interests of victims and the public at large.

INTERVIEW: In the third in a month-long series of articles exploring the EU-funded PROTECTOR project, which aims to design, develop and deliver the next generation of measures to enhance the protection of places of worship and their congregations, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth spoke to Nina Tell and Daniel Jacobsson of the Swedish Police Authority about their organisation’s role in the initiative, and the benefits the project has brought to policing in Sweden.

INNOVATION: With the publication of Baroness Casey’s Review the most recent development to highlight the importance of integrity in policing, the need for more effective employee vetting and screening processes is once again under the spotlight; Dr Matt Bland, Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing at Cambridge University, outlines the work undertaken by Master’s student Nick Dale to develop a screening solution that could be a gamechanger for UK policing.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The Fusus Real Time Crime Centre in the Cloud is quickly becoming the most trusted and widely-used collaborative technology platform in public safety and is ushering in the next generation of effective public and community safety in the United Kingdom. It combines the power of artificial intelligence, state-of-the-art technology while also bringing existing and diverse tools and technology into its platform for total first responder usage.

FEATURE: Facial recognition technology is often criticised for its purported disproportionality, with police use of this tool already banned in some parts of the world; but a new academic study – hailed by the Met and South Wales Police – challenges this narrative, arguing that British policing is deploying live facial recognition tech that is effective and avoids the problem of disproportionality, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to former police officer and Interpol Director Michael O’Connell, now Managing Director of Critical Insights Consultancy, about biometric-based travel bans to stop criminals at national borders, the importance of following financial trails, and why the UK’s Baroness Casey Review has implications for all policing agencies.

RESEARCH: The wealth of CCTV footage recorded in a wide range of public and private settings regularly forms vital evidence in court cases; but a new study of British murder investigations by Professor Fiona Brookman and Research Fellow Helen Jones of the University of South Wales suggests that issues around interpretation, availability and quality of CCTV represent challenges and risks that can make such evidence unreliable and problematic.

INNOVATION: A team from the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region are collaborating with colleagues across Europe to develop an app that uses machine learning to find and block images of child sexual abuse on personal devices – potentially protecting thousands of children while allowing police to target resources on the most persistent and prolific offenders, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INNOVATION: Policing faces some growing challenges around the volume and security of digital, and has been encouraged to migrate to the cloud as part of the UK Government’s Cloud First strategy; but police technology advisor Paul Kennedy, and Kate Steele, UKI Head of Public Services for Lenovo Infrastructure, believe an alternative approach focusing on infrastructure as a service could deliver greater efficiency and security as well as potential cost savings.

OPINION: The findings of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met Police were difficult reading for many, and described a force in crisis; John Fox, Senior Lecturer in Police Studies at the University of Portsmouth, believes the situation calls for strong measures – including the polygraph testing of applicants, better support for whistleblowers, and creating a hostile environment for toxic behaviour – to drive essential cultural change.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are delivering benefits in analysing huge volumes of historic data across both the private and public sector, but their use in real-time situations has been more limited; Hexagon Director Nick Chorley spoke to Policing Insight about the opportunities for greater use to assist live command and control decision making, and the importance of allaying fears over ‘big brother’ approaches and potential bias.